Don’t Drop Your Kids Off at Church

Parents have often developed misplaced priorities when it comes to their children. Many children in America are so busy with numerous activities that their spiritual lives are unfortunately neglected. Our approach is to drop our children off at the best church in town which we qualify by which one has the hippest youth minister, most attended programs, and the nicest …

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Book of the Week: God is Not One

 

This week’s book is God is Not One by Stephen Prothero, professor of religion at Boston University.  Prothero is not an evangelical.  His book is not a Christian world religions book.  I think it is always wise to read people who think differently than you to see if your faith really has substance.

I read this book, because his introduction blew me away.  Here was a very well-respected non-evangelical speaking of world religions with some actual solid reasoning abilities.  In a post-modern world where everyone wants to claim that all religions are the same and maintain religious tolerance, Prothero thinks that type of thinking is ignorant and dangerous.  A simple look at these religions show that there are remarkable differences in what they believe and how they practice.  I literally was jumping out of my chair reading the introduction because someone in a different thinking community spoke solid wisdom concerning this religious dilemma.

Below, you can hear Colbert interview him concerning the book.  Very intriguing:

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Book of the Week: Raising a Modern-Day Knight

Knight-boyI finished reading Robert Lewis’ Raising a Modern-Day Knight this week.  Lewis is the author of the Men’s Fraternity curriculum that has really impacted the men in our church.  I highly recommend this book to anyone raising boys!

Lewis teaches that most people have a poor definition of manhood in our society.  As fathers, our responsibility is not only to teach our boys what it means to be men, but to actually affirm that and call out the man in our sons.  He uses a lot of symbolism from medieval knighthood practices.  You may or may not copy his ideas, but what I walked away with most of all is that boys don’t become men by accident.  And they also remember what we celebrate and invest in.

He incorporates family crests, weekend ceremonies, and a whole lot of creativity.  He has some great theological and biblical teaching on manhood.  Coupling these two together makes a quick and idea-spurring read.

Top 5 ideas:

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It’s All About God

This children’s book reminds young minds that all good things come from God and all of our lives are for God. Every page of every story has one main character: it’s all about God. Get Copy on Amazon

Book of the Week: Christian Beliefs

This week’s book of the week is Wayne Grudem’s Christian Beliefs: 20 Basics Every Christian Should Know.  This book is a condensed version of the condensed version of his first systematic theology textbook.  The big one that I read in college is 1,290 pages, and he has a condensed version of 528 pages.  This volume is down to 159.

I’ve always known Grudem had a brilliant mind.  Just recently, I discovered he’s my hero as he shared a testimony concerning marriage at Family Life’s Art of Marriage conference.  He is truly loving his wife the way Christ loved the church.  Never imagined this great theologian as such a romantic!

So much good stuff in here.  A short chapter on each belief.  Lots of scripture references and study.  I’ll give you 10 great lines from the first chapters to whet your appetite!

10 of the 20 Chapter Summaries:

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Book of the Week: Radical

I had already shared my problems with David Platt’s book, Radical, a few months ago.  Still having a few chapters left at that time, I finished this book this week and still have the same soul-stirring problems when I started it.  Platt is so dedicated to God’s Word and his commission.  I just pray it is contagious in my heart …

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Book of the Week: StrengthsFinder 2.0

This week’s book of the week is Tom Rath’s StrengthsFinder 2.0.  This book was given to me as a gift.  Within each book is a code that allows the reader to take an online survey which determines the 5 top strengths of the reader.  You then can read more concerning your personal strengths. The premise of the book is found …

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Book of the Week: Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God

This week’s book of the week is C. J. Mahaney’s Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God.

This short read is full of great scriptural insights into romance within marriage.  What I love about the book is that it is not crass but it is also not fuddy-duddy.  It speaks of marriage, sex, and romance in a practical, engaging manner and gets its boldness from the Word of God.

While it is geared primarily towards men, his wife also provides some chapters at the end.  So practical and so God-glorifying.  A great reclaiming of the joy of romance for Christians living God’s way!  Great read!

Top 5 Ideas:

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Book of the Week: The Multi-Site Church Revolution

This week’s book of the week is The Multi-Site Church Revolution by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird.  Multi-site churches are growing by the day.  That term means a whole lot of different things, but fundamentally, it means being one church in many locations. Some of these congregations show videos of their preacher in different locations.  Some have campus …

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My Problem with David Platt’s Radical

Like many people in the last year, I have read David Platt’s soul-searching book, Radical. Make no mistake, I was a David Platt fan before being a David Platt fan was cool.  I got the privilege to hear him preach years before his name got real big.  Back in the day, he loved Jesus and was committed to his mission.

Here’s a video preview of his book:

Pretty intense stuff.  The book is even more intense.  He unashamedly calls the American church to wake up from their pursuit of the American Dream and live out the gospel in their daily lives.  Russell Moore’s endorsement is right on: “Sometimes people will commend a book by saying, ‘You won’t want to put it down.’  I can’t say that about this book.  You’ll want to put it down, many times.  If you’re like me, as you read David Platt’s Radical, you’ll find yourself uncomfortably targeted by the Holy Spirit.  You’ll see just how acclimated you are to the American dream…”

My problem with the book is this: David Platt is living this out in the context of an existing Southern Baptist church.

And people are forgetting that.

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Book of the Week: The Passion of Jesus Christ

This week’s book of the week is John Piper’s The Passion of Jesus Christ.  Love me some Piper, but I love me some Jesus even more.  This book’s tag line (and what the 2nd edition was renamed) is 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. These 50 small chapters pack so much theological truth into the reasonings Jesus came, died, …

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Book of the Week: Getting Things Done

This week’s book of the week is David Allen’s Getting Things Done.  The funny thing is I am a week late on this book review because I have had too much to do!  I made it 7 weeks into the new year with a book a week, and I failed miserably on the week I was reading a productivity book. …

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The Shack

This week’s book of the week is the ever-so-polarizing The Shack by William P. Young.  I have received more questions about this book than I did about The Da Vinci Code.  When people ask, it normally starts like this, “Have you read The Shack? What did you think about it?”  I’ll ask what they thought about it and they want to …

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Book of the Week: Simplify Your Spiritual Life

This week’s book of the week is Donald S. Whitney’s Simplify Your Spiritual Life.  I first read Dr. Whitney’s book on spiritual disciplines in seminary, and he has one of the most helpful and practical voices to helping people grow spiritually.  In a chaotic world, he wrote this volume to give many bite-size chapters on how to simplify your spiritual …

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Book of the Week: The 5 Love Languages (Which One is Yours?)

This week’s book of the week is Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages. While I have used the premise of this book often in counseling, I had never actually read the book.  Since this week was a heart book read, I decided to go through this book finally.  The idea is that we all have  primary love language that we …

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Book of the Week: Making Vision Stick

This week’s book of the week was Andy Stanley’s Making Vision Stick. Stanley is the pastor of North Point Community Church.  He is one of the smartest leaders I have ever had the privilege to be taught by.  The guy breathes organization and systems.  He is often criticized for his use of corporate leadership within the church, but he rebuttles that …

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Book of the Week: The Reason for God

This week’s book of the week is Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.  You can listen to him explain the book in the video above.  My college roommate, Phillip, told me about how great Keller’s writings were, and since I started my religion course back, I thought this would be a good mind-stretching selection …

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Book of the Week: Forgotten God

This week’s book of the week is by Francis Chan entitled Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. Chan has been a mentor of mine from events, sermons, and writings.  I believe he has been placed by God in this generation to wake the church up and invite us back to walking intimately with God. In this …

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Book of the Week: Raising Dad

This week’s book of the week is Raising Dad by Thom S. Rainer and Art Rainer.  I am grateful to Chuck Lawless for recommending this book to me.  Lawless is the dean at the Billy Graham school at Southern Seminary.  His predecessor was Thom Rainer, now the president of LifeWay Christian Resources. In conversations with Dr. Lawless concerning being a …

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Book of the Week: Biblical Eldership

This week’s book of the week is Alexander Strauch’s Biblical Eldership.  Our elders at North Side have gone through this book as a study.  The book is a biblical exposition of the New Testament model of elders within a local church. While we studied it in groups going over different sections, I took this week to reread it and really …

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Book Reading Resolution (or is it a plan…)

I used to hate reading.  I mean, hate it.  It had to change in college.  It helped that I began to enjoy what I was reading.  When I had to read through a book on Jesus for class, I got more into reading. Through college, seminary, and doctoral work, my reading lists were mandated to me.  I acquired extra books …

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Book of the Week: Adopted for Life

This week’s book of the week is Russell Moore’s Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches. Dr. Moore is the dean of theology from my alma mater, Southern Seminary.  He has adopted two boys from Russia.  We got this book back when we were considering adoption.  The only problem was that Amanda was reading it …

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Hurry Home

Pastor Andy Stanley wrote a book entitled Choosing to Cheat which describes the tension between the demands of a family and the demands of a vocation. His premise is that you will have to choose to cheat in one area – either your family or your work will get the best you have to offer. Which one will you choose? …

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What’s Your Love Language?

In Gary Chapman’s helpful book, The Five Love Languages, he holds that every person has a specific love language that speaks to them most. Do you know yours? Words of Affirmation – You feel especially loved when people express how grateful they are for you, and for the simple, everyday things you do. Quality Time – You feel especially loved …

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Freshman 15

Freshman fifteen is an Americanized concept proposing that when students conclude their freshman year at college, they are approximately fifteen pounds heavier than when that school year began. Every college student will gain weight in college, but that doesn’t have to be a negative thing. People in the ancient world spoke of giving weight to something as giving it glory …

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Book of the Week: Family Driven Faith

This week’s book of the week goes to Voddie Baucham’s Family Driven Faith.  Preparing for our Legacy series, this book has been a huge asset.  I tried to get five best quotes from the book, but I only got to page 51.  Here goes: “In other words, if I am not a good husband, I am not qualified to lead …

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Freshman 15 Submitted to Publishers

Today, I submitted Freshman 15 to the publishers.  I will hopefully get a copy of the book in approximately a week.  After that, unless there is some major issue with it, it will be available for printing! It was such a huge relief to click “submit” today.  This project has been a part of me for a few years now. …

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Book of the Week: A God Divided

This week’s book of the week is A God Divided written by Christopher Catherwood.  It is our featured book in the bookstore for the Crossroads series.  If you are wanting some extra info on the differences between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, you need to pick up this book. Top 5 Ideas: “By the ironic nature of its title – A …

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Freshman 15 Draft Completed!

  I am so relieved to tell you that the content for my Freshman 15 book is complete!  After many hours of work (filled with many months of taking off of the process), I have been working feverishly for the last four weeks to complete the content, and I am happy to say that I have finished it yesterday afternoon. …

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Book of the Week: Stop Dating the Church!

This week’s book of the week is Stop Dating the Church!: Fall In Love with the Family of God. This small book by Joshua Harris is full of sweet goodness.  While Harris is a great writer, this book is a critical read for many people.  Many people (especially college students) have a tendency to church hop or church shop or …

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Book of the Week: Genesis

This week’s book of the week is the Book of Genesis.  I received a new ESV study Bible this week, and started rereading Genesis even though I read it once this month.  Since I am reading through the Bible in a new plan, I wanted to go through it in this Bible so I wouldn’t just jump in at a …

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Book of the Week: The Gospel of Matthew

This week’s book of the week is none other than The Gospel of Matthew.  The first gospel in the New Testament was written by Matthew, one of the original twelve disciples.  As a tax-collector, he really hit on many parables on money.  And ethnically, as a Jew, he included more Old Testament quotations than any of the other gospel writers. …

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Book of the Week: Enter His Courts with Praise

This week’s book of the week is Andrew Hill’s “Enter His Courts with Praise!” This treatment is a thoroughly biblical study of worship.  Looking at how worship was prescribed in the Old Testament, Hill attempts to give guidelines for New Testament worship. Top 5 Ideas: “For our purposes Shaper best captures the idea and ideal of worship when he characterizes the event of worship …

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Book of the Week: The Interventionist

This week’s book of the week is The Interventionist written by Lyle E. Schaller. Top 5 Ideas: Schaller stated that “this has become the central theme of this book, the most effective way to influence both individual and institutional behavior is to ask questions” (15). Speaking concerning the necessity for a minister to be well-presented, Schaller stated that “the pulpit …

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Book of the Week: Mission in the Old Testament

This week’s book of the week is Walter Kaiser’s Mission in the Old Testament. Top 5 Thoughts: God’s original intention was to extend his offering of grace beyond merely the Jewish people to the Gentiles (9). Blessing had to start somewhere with someone.  God’s purpose in blessing one people was to create an instrument to bless all other nations of …

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Book of the Week: The Soul Winner

This week’s book of the week is by Charles Spurgeon entitled, The Soul Winner. Spurgeon is the “prince of preachers” and had an incredible ministry during his lifetime.  This great volume explains the need for personal evangelism. Top 5 Ideas: “Soul-winning is the chief business of the Christian minister; indeed, it should be the main pursuit of every true believer” …

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Book of the Week: Breakout Churches

This week’s book of the week is Thom Rainer’s Breakout Churches.  Rainer, the president of Lifeway, used to be the dean for the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth.  In this book, he studied churches who were making the leap to doing great things.  It is a great read with some great findings. Top 5 Ideas: Rainer’s …

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Book of the Week: Experiencing Revival

This week’s book of the week is Charles Finney’s Experiencing Revival. “The fact is, Christians are more to blame for not being revived than sinners are for not being converted” (18). “There are two goals necessary for revival; one is to influence men, and the other is to influence God…I do not mean that God’s mind is changed by prayer …

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